Google is planning a ‘Pixel 3’ laptop running the ‘Andromeda’ OS

Google last week officially announced the date when the Internet giant will unveil its much anticipated Android smartphones – October 4. Google is widely expected to launch the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones running Android 7.1 Nougat, and do away with the Nexus brand. While this may seem like big news in itself, a recent tweet by Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP Android, Chrome OS & Play indicates there may be something even bigger in the offing – at least, speculation has begun on this front.

We announced the 1st version of Android 8 years ago today. I have a feeling 8 years from now we’ll be talking about Oct 4, 2016.

Android Police speculates the above tweet may be referring to the much-rumoured and oft-denied merger of Android and Chrome OS. The project is reportedly codenamed ‘Andromeda‘ at Google, and it is said to be an attempt to push Android onto the laptop and convertible form factor. The company is now expected to tease or unveil Andromeda at its October 4 event, while the launch will still be sometime next year.

Two independent and reliable sources have confirmed to us that Google is planning a new Pixel laptop to be released in Q3 2017. The project, known internally as ‘Bison’ and by the informal nickname ‘Pixel 3,’ will likely be the first brand-new device to showcase Google’s combined Android / Chrome OS ‘Andromeda’ operating system in a laptop form factor.

Bison is planned as an ultra-thin laptop with a 12.3″ display, but Google also wants it to support a “tablet” mode. It’s unclear to us if this means Bison will be a Lenovo Yoga-style convertible device, or a detachable like Microsoft’s Surface Book. And by the time Bison launches, Google wants to be ready to showcase Andromeda running a variety of enterprise, developer, and stylus-driven apps on the device – a way to argue that Bison and Andromeda will create a laptop experience that is truly attempting to rival Apple and Microsoft.

The Andromeda hybrid OS has been in and out of rumors and leaks for a while now, but we don’t know the exact make up of the new OS yet. An old report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that Google is planning to “fold” Chrome OS into Android, which would make it quite different to Google’s efforts to bring Android apps to Chromebooks.

The growing number of leaks suggest that Google is planning to release a new OS with superior cross-platform capabilities for some future mobile devices, most likely aimed at the tablet and 2-in-1 market. Reports have previously pointed to a potential 2017 release, but if Hiroshi Lockheimer’s recent Tweet is anything to go by, Google might just tease us with the new OS next Tuesday.